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Home Ownership, Cost of Living & Property Prices June 2015

Introduction

At RE/MAX Malta we believe in keeping the community and industry up-to-date with information that will provide insight into their daily lives. As a knowledge base, the information below will provide you the opinion of the general population. The study below looks at the ratio between those Maltese that own their property and those that prefer to rent. It also takes a look at the perception of home ownership, the cost of living in terms of being able to purchase a property and how the older population would advise our younger generations to prepare for purchasing a property in Malta.

Period of Study

The survey was conducted in the month of June 2015 and the final Research report was issued in September 2015.

Methodology

The surveys were carried out by Insight Omnibus Survey which is a quantitative study.

Sampling

For the purpose of this survey, a sample of 500 net respondents was targeted. Any refusals and incomplete surveys are re-allocated to achieve a net sample of 500 interviews. A two-step process was adopted to obtain a stratified sampling procedure. This took place as follows:

A targeted population was stratified according to the various areas in Malta & Gozo;

Following this, systematic sampling was adopted to obtain the required sample. Not more than one person per household was interviewed;

Each interviewer was given a quota of people to interview throughout the data collection phase. The quota specified the age brackets and gender required. This presented a representative sample of the Maltese households in terms of geographic location, age, and gender respectively.

Rented Vs Purchased Properties

An important question that was not asked during our recent RE/MAX Real Estate Insights June 2015 research was whether respondents lived in a rented property or a purchased property so we could understand the actual percentage of home ownership in Malta. Feedback from so many people interested in understanding this ratio has prompted us to seek out this information as a duty to the community.

As the results show, the vast majority (86.8%) of the sampled population live in a purchased property. Of the 13.2% that stated they lived in a rented property over one-fifth of the respondents came from the age group of 65 years and above. Of those respondents that stated that they lived in a rented property most lived in the Eastern (26%) and Central (13.1%) parts of Malta. The age bracket of 35 – 49 years of age registered the highest percentage of respondents to live in a purchased property at 90.8% compared to 9.2% that lived in a rented property.

After analysing the above, one may assume that the younger generations in Malta & Gozo are considering purchasing property rather than living in a rented home. We may also assume that the majority of those respondents living in a rented property between the age of 65 years are paying a low rent with a rental agreement which is recognised by the old rent laws.

Perception of Home Ownership

The sampled population was also assessed on the value of home ownership which is a key indicator of the health barometer of the real estate market. In July 2013 and in March 2014 we commissioned the identical question to a similar sampled population representing the general public of Malta and Gozo. Whereas in the July 2013 survey, 94.4% of the sampled population expressed that home ownership is “important or very important”, in March 2014 93.2% reconfirmed the importance of owning a home.

In our latest edition, the results indicated that 95.8% of the respondents stated that owning a home is “important or very important”, whereas only 4.2% did not consider it important. The findings also revealed that the respondents with in the age brackets of 25-34 and 34 and 49 registered the most importance of home ownership.

Most respondents considered owning a home as a good investment – registering 37% of responses. This is followed by the fact that owning a home provides a good sense of stability and peace of mind – 28.3%. Reference was also made to the fact that rent money is an expense and also considered it “wasted” money when one could alternatively pay a loan installment instead. Other respondents indicated that it was also important for their children so that one day they may inherit.

Cost of Living and Property Prices

We continued the survey with asking the sampled population what their perception was about the cost of living in Malta and Gozo. 72.4% of the sampled population felt that the cost of living in Malta was increasing. Assuming that the cost of living increase has an add-on affect with the increasing property prices in Malta, we asked the sampled population whether they felt that the add-on affect of increasing property prices was a good sign for the Maltese Economy.

The findings show a mixed perception in that 41.2% stated that they agreed that the increasing property prices was a positive sign for the Maltese Economy whereas 34.4% did not agree this was a good sign for the Maltese Economy. 24.2% stated that they “Don’t Know” whether this affected the Maltese Economy positively or not.

Considering that there is a high percentage of people noting that the Maltese cost of living as well as property prices are increasing, the Maltese population do not seem to be too fazed and the general perception is more positive showing confidence in the Maltese Economy and the local real estate market.

Younger Generations and Real Estate Investment

The research continued by asking the respondents what their perception was on younger generations buying a property at an early stage in their lives. A high response of 84.8% stated that they felt that the younger population of the Maltese locals should indeed purchase a home investment as early as possible.

Conclusion

Market research is an important tool for everyone to understand what the general perception is about the real estate market. At RE/MAX Malta we hope that the research that we commission is not only treated as a benchmark and knowledge-base but also utilised positively inspire all generations to ask questions about the subject and to challenge their own situation and those of others.

As a leader in the Real Estate Market we believe that this information helps individuals base their purchasing decisions, both present and future ones, on sound and factual statistics. This is the reason why we strive to be consistent and work hard to retain a progressive journey to improve our research findings.

Feel free to ask questions about information on the real estate market whether you are interested in buying, renting or selling in the immediate future or in the long term. RE/MAX Malta are here to constantly assist the community professionally.